Pokémon ( Japanese : ポケモン , Hepburn : Pokemon , Japanese: [pokemoɴ] ; English: / ˈ p oʊ k ɪ ˌ m ɒ n , - k i -, - k eɪ -/ ) [1] [2] [3] is a media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company , a Japanese consortium between Nintendo , Game Freak , and Creatures . [4] The franchise copyright is shared by all three companies, but Nintendo is the sole owner of the trademark. [5] The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, [6] and is centered on fictional creatures called "Pokémon" , which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport.

The franchise began as a pair of video games for the original Game Boy that were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. It now spans video games, trading card games, animated television shows and movies, comic books, and toys. Pokémon is the second best-selling video game franchise , behind only Nintendo's Mario franchise , [7] and the highest-grossing media franchise of all time . The franchise is also represented in other Nintendo media, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.

Cumulative sales of the video games (including home console games, such as Hey You, Pikachu! for the Nintendo 64 ) have reached more than 300 million copies. [8] In November 2005, 4Kids Entertainment , which had managed the non-game related licensing of Pokémon , announced that it had agreed not to renew the Pokémon representation agreement. The Pokémon Company International (formerly Pokémon USA Inc.), a subsidiary of Japan's Pokémon Co., oversees all Pokémon licensing outside Asia. [9] As of March 2017, the Pokémon franchise has grossed revenues of ¥6.0 trillion worldwide [8] (equivalent to US$ 55.15 billion).

The name Pokémon is the romanized contraction of the Japanese brand Pocket Monsters ( ポケ ット モン スター , Poke tto Mon sutā ) . [18] The term Pokémon , in addition to referring to the Pokémon franchise itself, also collectively refers to the 806 fictional species that have made appearances in Pokémon media as of the release of the seventh generation titles Pokémon Sun and Moon . "Pokémon" is identical in both the singular and plural , as is each individual species name; it is grammatically correct to say "one Pokémon" and "many Pokémon", as well as "one Pikachu " and "many Pikachu". [19]

In Sun and Moon , however, the Gym Leaders are not present, and are instead replaced with "Trial Captains", a NPC who gives the Trainer a challenge to complete so as to earn a special item. Once the player completes all of these on an island, the Trainer must take on the Island Kahuna, the strongest Trainer on the island. Once the player beats all the Kahunas, he must travel to the recently built Pokémon League, where he must re-defeat two of the Kahunas and two strong Trainers, who now form the Elite Four, and then defend his newly received title against challengers.

The second generation of Pokémon began in 1999 with the release of Pokémon Gold and Silver for Game Boy Color. Like the previous generation, an enhanced version titled Pokémon Crystal was later released. The second generation introduced 100 new species of Pokémon, starting with Chikorita and ending with Celebi . The Pokédex totaled 251 Pokémon to collect, train, and battle, set in Johto , inspired by Japan's Kansai region . The Pokémon mini is a handheld game console released in November 2001 in North America, December 2001 in Japan, and 2002 in Europe.